Her Secret

by Tara Fox Hall

  “Good. Get some rest.”

  “I’m sorry that things didn’t work out,” I said quickly.

  Danial was quiet for so long that I thought maybe we’d gotten disconnected. “Danial?”

  “I’m sorry, too,” he said sadly. “I’m looking forward to seeing you Saturday.”

  “Me, too. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Sar,” he said softly. “I love you.”

  Depressed, I hung up the phone. With irritation, I suddenly remembered I’d forgotten to get the mail. Getting it myself was right out, too. If my life was a novel, this would be the part where I got grabbed by Manir, who had somehow found out where I lived.

  I went downstairs and got Brian up.

  “Sorry for sleeping so long. I covered for Terian yesterday night and had just got to bed when Theo got me up to come with—”

  “Why did Terian need you to cover for him?” I interrupted.

  “He said he had a date.”

  I almost fell over in surprise. “He had a date?”

  Brian laughed. “You act like the man’s a hermit.”

  I gave him a look that said that description wasn’t far off. “Do you know who it was?”

  “No,” he said. “But he said he could trust her. I think they’ve been seeing each other for a while now.”

  God, let him not have gotten back together with Sundown. She’d broken his heart once already. Suddenly I got shivers: I might have this woman to thank for my life. “Wait, I remember now. He said that night Manir attacked that he had to be somewhere later to be. That’s why he couldn’t go with Danial and Theo had to go instead. Was it this—?”

  “I can’t answer that,” Brian said politely yet firmly. “I’ll go get the mail. You stay here.”

  I followed him upstairs grumpily. It was okay to discuss my love life, but not Terian’s?

  Brian was back in a few moments. “I’m going to watch from the window here,” he said, handing me the mail.

  “Thanks,” I said civilly. “I’m heading to bed.”

  I braced myself for some comment about dreams of Devlin as I walked away, but there wasn’t one.

  * * * *

  When I got up at six the next morning, Theo hadn’t returned. I put on a robe, and went out to see Brian. He was still in position near the window.

  “Good morning,” he said politely.

  “You can get some sleep if you want. I’m going to stay up.”

  “Thanks,” he said, rising stiffly from his chair. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I’ll let you know if anyone shows up, or if someone calls for you.”

  “No need for the latter,” he called back, heading downstairs. “I have my cell on.”

  Relieved there would be no awkward discussions this morning, I went about my day. After taking care of the dogs and cats, I showered and set about baking apple pies: one for Brian to take home in thanks, and the other for Theo. I was just removing them from the oven when Theo called.

  “I got him, Sar,” he murmured, tired but contented.

  Twin waves of relief hit me that Theo was okay, and Manir was dead. “Where are you?”

  “Right outside,” he said. “I’m messy, though. I need you to put some towels down.”

  I knew what he wanted. “Okay. Bye.”

  Hastening to the front door, I laid down two layers worth of towels that were usually for wiping the dogs’ feet. Then I opened the door. Theo stood there looking as if he had come from a slaughterhouse. There was blood in spatters, splashes and huge patches in his hair, on his face, and even in his eyelashes.

  I let him inside, closed the door, then held out my hands. “Give me your clothes.”

  He took them off and handed them to me, including his sneakers. “You can try washing them, but they might have to be thrown out. Where is Brian?”

  “Downstairs sleeping. He just went down about a half hour ago.”

  He nodded once. “Good. I’m going to shower.”

  “Is your truck a mess?”

  “No, I put down a plastic sheet on the seat before I got in, and wiped my hands off with some wet naps. If the bastard hadn’t been in an abandoned house, I’d have washed up before leaving. I don’t like you seeing me like this.”

  “This isn’t the first time,” I replied, taking his clothes, the towels, and his sneakers into the laundry room. I sprayed the bloodstains liberally with stain remover, then set everything to washing.

  A strange mood abruptly came over me; I decided to join Theo in the shower. With all the blood on him, he’d likely welcome a little help getting it off...

  Quickly, I shed my clothes and then hurried into the bathroom. “Want some company?”

  “You have to ask?”

  I slid back the curtain, and got in. Theo turned to me, shampoo still in his hair, and gave me a hungry look. Then he wrapped me in his arms, and kissed me. I ran my hands over the wet skin of his hard shoulders and biceps, then back up his chest, pulling some of the hair. He growled softly, moving his kissed to my neck. I threw my head back, pulling his head down to me tightly. Abruptly, he jerked backward. I was thrown off balance, but steadied myself.

  “Sorry, shampoo in the eyes.” He washed his face, then got the rest of the shampoo out.

  “That’s okay,” I said teasingly. “I only came in to help you clean off.”

  “Then help, wife,” he replied, smiling enticingly.

  “You help first.”

  “Sure. Come here.”

  As I shampooed my hair, Theo soaped up my body, caressing me as he rubbed my skin gently. After I rinsed off, I put conditioner on, then rubbed some into his hair, too. Theo began to soap me up again.

  “Hey, you got me clean already—” I began.

  “I missed a few spots.” He gave a wide smile. “That means I have to start all over.”

  I laughed, then leaned into his hands, loving the feel of them sliding over my body. We stood together in the spray of the shower for some time, rinsing off and kissing.

  The water changed rapidly to cool, then cold.

  “Out of time,” Theo said, pulling back the curtain. “But that’s fine with me.” He put me over his shoulder with a growl and carried me into the bedroom.

  Kissing me hungrily, he lay me down on the bed, then moved one of my legs up to the side. He shifted, then penetrated me all at once. I let out a gasp. Theo covered my mouth with his, licking me, deepening the kiss as he slipped his tongue in to taste me.

  He began to move gently. I responded eagerly. He groaned, and begin to move faster, stroking and touching me. The heaviness between us built up swiftly, and I let out a cry, pulling him closer, eager for climax. He began to shake, then came roaring, holding my body tightly against his, possessing me utterly.

  Languidly he rolled over on his back, and began to move, holding my hips. I let my head fall back, my hair falling down my back to pool on his thighs. He shivered from the cold sensation and I let out another cry, as he shifted his hips under me, stroking faster. I lasted a minute, and then succumbed, my muscles clenching and releasing as I screamed out his name:

  “Theo!”

  He growled contentedly, and bit me gently on my throat. He began thrusting as hard and as fast as he could. With a loud roar, he pushed my hips down on his, arching his back, thrusting up into me as he came. When he stopped moving, I eased off him, panting heavily. He hugged me gently as our breathing slowly quieted.

  “I love you, Sar,” he said contentedly.

  “I love you, too,” I said, kissing him lingeringly. “And I’m glad you’re home safe. I made you some pie.”

  “My little pie maker,” he said affectionately. “I’m looking forward to tasting them. But just stay here with me for a while.”

  I fell asleep quickly, lulled by the heat of his body and the easy exhaustion of great sex. A few hours later, we awoke.

  “Go let Brian know he can leave,” Theo murmured. “Now that Al and Manir are toast, you won’t need to be under g
uard all the time. But I still want you to be careful. No taking chances, okay?”

  I nodded, and pulled on a robe. “I’ll be back.”

  Brian was groggy, but glad to be on his way. He got up immediately, and began to pack.

  “Thanks for waking me,” he said as he left. “And thanks for the pie, too. I didn’t expect you to make one for me.”

  “Don’t read more into it than politeness,” I said edgily. “I often make them for Danial’s foxes. Now that you’re part of his organization, I wanted to make you feel appreciated.”

  I said my words deliberately, mostly out of annoyance over his words in our conversation the day before. But Brian didn’t take the bait.

  “Of course,” he said politely. “I’m very happy you’re pleased with my effort. Take care and have a good night.”

  I closed the door with a smile, my annoyance evaporating. Quickly locking it, I went back to bed.

  * * * *

  Theo shook me awake. “Sar, it’s after noon. Are you okay?”

  “Sure,” I yawned. “I’m just taking advantage of you being home.”

  “Kidding aside, you seem to be sleeping a lot,” he said worriedly.

  “It’s a side effect of the pills,” I said, yawning again. “It says so on the bottle.”

  “We’ll get you off them as soon as we can,” he said, touching my face gently. “I promise.” He got up and went into the bathroom.

  I looked at the closed door oddly. Why had he said that? Did he feel like it was his fault I had to take them? Was I just reading more into it that he’d meant?

  Theo came out. “Come on, throw a robe on. I want to taste that pie.”

  I followed him to the kitchen where he proceeded to eat half the pie out of the plate.

  “Wait to eat the rest until after dinner,” I said sternly, taking it from him.

  He made a face. “What are you making?”

  “Grill us some hamburgers?”

  “Sure, as soon as I run down and fill the grill’s propane tank.”

  Close to an hour later, as we were relishing the charred meat, Theo said, “What to know how it went?”

  Part of me did, and part of me didn’t. “Do you want to tell me?”

  “Yes,” he said simply.

  It was either to reassure me, or because he was proud. “Okay, but understand I don’t want an actual blow by blow, especially sitting here eating, okay?”

  “Understood.” He paused. “Manir was in hiding east of us, near Boston. I left on a private plane. I found his location, scoped out the defenses, and then went to work. He had about twenty bears with him, but they were on their own, as he was still sleeping for the day. I had on my body armor, and I mowed them down quickly, before they could mount a real defense.”

  “I found Manir in the innermost room, still sleeping in a sparkling clean coffin. I knocked on the cover, and he told me to lift the lid. He screamed when he saw it was me.”

  Theo’s pleasure in his remembrance was scaring me, but I didn’t speak.

  “I spent the next few hours teaching him what it means to fuck with someone I love,” Theo said harshly. “When I was done, he was just barely alive. I took his head then, and doused the body with gasoline. I burned it and the warehouse, making sure to sprinkle all the dead flash with a spell of Terian’s to make the bodies decompose as fast as possible. There’s nothing left of Manir now except a little muck, like moist dirt, and his severed head.”

  I put my half-eaten hamburger down. He’d kept the head? Ew...

  Theo saw my disgust. “It wasn’t a personal trophy. Danial wanted a photo of the head, with me holding it, bloody. I’ll burn it tomorrow, probably.”

  “Why’d he want the photo?”

  “For you. He’s already sent it to all of the vampires in America, and the other vampire big shots in the rest of the world. He needed to make an example of Manir, so no one tried again to take you or Theoron.” Theo took my hand, and squeezed it hard. “Reality is that if someone wants you bad enough, and has enough men to waste getting you, they’ll get you eventually. We needed to make them believe that the cost would be too high.”

  “I’m grateful he’s dead.” More like vastly relieved.

  “I wanted you to know that I paid him back with interest for what he did. He can’t ever hurt you again.” Theo paused. “What I did to him let me release some of the rage that I’ve been carrying around inside.”

  “It wasn’t your fault—”

  “I know that, but I still needed to make someone pay. Now I can let it go, you can feel safer, and we can get on with our lives.”

  If only it were that easy. Still, my heart was eased knowing another person who would like to hurt me was dead. “Thank you. I feel like I can breathe again. It’ll be nice to go for a walk outside and not be afraid.”

  He kissed my forehead lightly. “I’ll always protect you, Sar. Always.”

  * * * *

  The next morning, I staggered groggily out to take care of the pets. While the Ghost and Darkness were doing their business outside, I checked the laundry. Most of the bloodstains had come out, but faint marks remained. I doused the marks again with stain remover and then put them in for another cycle. As I let the dogs in, the pile of mail from last night lying on my day planner caught my eye.

  No use putting it off. I began to go through the stack. I recycled some junk mail and put some bills aside for Theo, and then came across a card. There was no return address. The postage was airmail.

  I only knew one person who was living in another country. My blood went cold. Checking quickly to make sure I was alone, I tore open the envelope. The card inside showed a single rose on the cover with a background of black. With shaking hands, I opened it to reveal one cryptic sentence:

  Do you remember me the way I remember you?

  There was no signature, but I didn’t need one. This had been sent by Devlin. The rose pictured was a fire and ice rose, both red and white on each beautiful petal. One of his roses, the ones he’d always given me. The kind I’d looked for in florist shops, but been unable to find. I’d learned by asking that they had to be specially ordered. Those times he’d brought them to me, he’d not just stopped at a drugstore or even a florist’s to get them. He’d ordered them ahead of time, and had to go pick them up. Desire for him hit me then like a fist to the gut.

  Though I felt weak with longing, I fought off the feeling. The pills helped, keeping me rational. Before I could change my mind, I took the card and envelope, and threw them into the wood stove, where they were shortly reduced to ashes. When there was no trace of it left, I poured myself a glass of wine. I drank about half of it fast, wishing it would hurry and take effect. Then I downed the rest and washed out the glass. It was barely nine, and Theo would know something had happened if he caught me drinking this early.

  * * * *

  That afternoon after working on email, I spent some time with Elle. She was adamantly trying to get me to take her side against Danial regarding an imminent sleepover.

  “Dad’s worried something will happen, but it won’t.”

  “Theo also has reservations,” I said firmly. “I know you are lonely for friends your own age. But you spending the night away from home is dangerous. You know I don’t mean just in you getting kidnapped—”

  She looked at me imploringly. “Mom,” she said, drawing the word out, “I know! I won’t change in front of anyone!”

  “Not purposely,” I said, hugging her to soften my words. “But what if you get angry? Scared?”

  She looked at me like I was an idiot. “I said I wouldn’t do it!”

  I must have looked at my own mother like that once. This was my punishment. “Elle, how about you ask this girl—”

  “Violet,” she supplied with a little arrogance.

  “Why don't you ask Violet if she would like to come here to spend the night some weekend?”

  “It’s not the same!” she wailed.

  I put my foot d
own. “I know it’s not the same. But it’s the best offer you are going to get. And even that isn’t going to be easy.”

  She looked at me resentfully.

  “You know normal people don’t live like this,” I continued. “They don’t have bodyguards, or a vampire for a dad, or—”

  “You’re normal,” she said, hugging me hard.

  That might have been the first time I’d ever been called normal. But with that basis for comparison, it was true. “Do you want me to ask Theo and Danial about having Violet come here to spend the night, or not?”

  “Please,” she answered.

  “Okay. Before I do that, I need to meet her.”

  * * * *

  Enjoying my newfound freedom from guards, I took Elle to her dance lesson that afternoon. Violet was a shy, polite girl with brown eyes and brown hair. Next to Elle, she looked plain, but she seemed very nice. The only trouble was she not only looked nine as Elle did, she really was nine years old. Was that old enough for her to be suspicious of how abnormal Elle’s home life was?

  As the class was ending, a woman close to my own age came up to me, an older version of Violet. “Hi, I’m Cathy, Violet’s mother. Our girls seem to be becoming fast friends.”

  “Yes,” I said, watching Elle and the other girls practicing.

  “You must have married young and had Elle when you were about twenty or so, like I was when I had Violet. It was a challenge being that young and raising a child, wasn’t it?”

  I didn’t know what to say. There was way, way too much to explain. I just smiled and nodded.

  “Elle looks like you, but she must get those eyes from her father.”

  “She does,” I replied, watching Elle as she moved across the floor. I opened my mouth to ask her about Violet spending the night, and then my eyes fastened on Theo’s form in the dance studio doorway.

  Instead of his usual loose clothes, he had on a tight blue T-shirt the color of his eyes, and tight jeans. His clothes stretched across his muscular body like a second skin. His hair, usually messy, was carefully styled. In short, my usually good-looking husband was breathtaking.

  “What are you doing here?” I said, giving him a smile.

  “Coming to meet Elle’s friend,” he replied. “I thought we could go for dinner afterwards.”